Incense
by The Unauthorized Author
Summary: The prince of Tangu has fallen ill and Sophia and James go to visit. The story continues after that, and is hopefully better than the summary. My first proper attempt at creative writing. SophiaxZandar
1. Chapters 1 and 2

Incense

Chapter 1

As Sophia watched Royal Prep recede into the distance from her flying carriage, she found herself thinking, again, of Prince Zandar. He had been one of her best friends ever since she became a princess 7 years ago. For the past few days, he had been absent and Sophia was starting to worry. As if he were reading her mind, James spoke up from the seat across from her. "Hey, Phia!" he said "whaddaya think happened to Zandar?"

"I don't know." said Sophia "and I'm really starting to worry. Typically he has his servants send a message to the castle telling us what's going on when he's absent. I do hope he's okay."

Immature, even after all those years of training, James said "Yeah, sure hope he's not dead or anything."

"JAMES!" Sophia yelled, "how could you say that?" In an unexpected burst of emotion, she started to cry, and quietly she added "He can't be dead."

Amber, startled from her macramé by her sister's sudden outburst, calmly said "If you are so worried, why don't you and James pop by to see what's the matter?"

"That sounds like a good idea, Amber", said the prince, after apologizing to Sophia.

The young nobles were quiet the rest of the way home. Sophia was only slightly surprised by her earlier tears. She cared deeply for Zandar. Ever since the time he helped her out of the fountain, she had thought about him differently than other boys. He was always kind, and funny, and instead of laughing at her klutziness, he would laugh good-naturedly and help her out of whatever fix she got into. Sometimes, although she would never admit this, she would intentionally trip and fall, just to see him smile. To Sophia, that smile was brighter than the sun itself, and infinitely more precious. So naturally, if something happened to Zandar, she would be devastated. Until the carriage pulled into their stables, Sophia prayed that the prince of Tangu was all right.

Chapter 2

After consulting her parents, Sophia changed out of her school clothes and, along with James, headed for Tangu. She wore, in place of the froufy purple gown, a dark blue frock, simply cut with no embellishments, except for silver buttons on the edge of her pockets. Her tiara hung out of one of these pockets, leaving her auburn hair to float about her shoulders.

As they arrived at the palace doors, they were greeted by the king and queen, both looking worried. They appeared as if they hadn't slept in days. "Hello" said James, somewhat startled by the unkempt appearance of their hosts, "sorry to pop in like this, but my sister and I were worried about Zandar. Could we possibly see him?"

The queen looked at once heartened and unsure. "I suppose some company would do the poor boy good" she said to her husband, "but I don't know if he will be able to take the excitement."

Sophia and James exchanged worried glances.

"Alright," said the king turning to the children "but try not to be shocked by what you see. The doctors will show you in." With that the King took his queen and they swept off, presumably to their quarters.

The doctors were both tall, bespectacled men, wearing small turbans fastened with what looked suspiciously like Velcro. They looked exactly like one another. They showed the two Enchancians to Zandar's room, explaining the situation as they went. "His Majesty appears to have caught some disease, presumably from magic mites living in his magic carpet. This brand of magic can be very testy, and as such we have been unable to do much more than make him somewhat comfortable and wait it out." As you will see, it has taken its toll on the prince.

Upon seeing his sister's stricken face, James reached up (for Sophia was embarrassingly taller than he) and squeezed her shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. If only he could stop his imagination from envisioning all of the horrible fates that could befall his friend.

As they neared an ornately carved door, Sophia noticed an odd smell permeating the air. It smelled like jasmine and honeysuckle and tea leaves. Sophia doubted she had ever smelled anything like it. As the doctor opened the door, the princess was shocked by 2 things at once. First, how much stronerg the smell was here and second the sight of Zandar lying in his bed.


	2. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

At first, Sophia barely recognized Zandar. Despite his tan complexion, he was as pale as the blankets covering him up to his chin. Even with the aid of those blankets, he was shivering visibly. Sophia, before now had never seen the prince without his turban, but now his dark hair was plainly visible, and matted with sweat. His large, brown eyes were closed.

After their initial shock, Sophia and James walked into the scented room. A servant who had, until now, gone unnoticed quietly pulled up 2 soft chairs and motioned for the nobles to sit. "It could be a while," he said, "His Majesty has been like this all day."

They do as they were told and were soon rewarded with a barely audible moan. James looked on excitedly, as Sophia held her breath as, slowly; Zandar turned his head and opened his eyes. The chocolaty hues that normally made Sophia tingle with pleasure were muted and glassy. Dark rings framed the underneath of his eyes.

James, wasting no time, immediately said "Hey Zandar! You look absolutely dead!"

Sophia turned to her brother and gave him her rendition of her mother's "stern face" while Zandar simply looked at James and whispered " Hi. Do you have to be so loud?" He then turned his eyes and noticed Sophia.

Sophia could only guess that the expression directed at her was a smile, although it was barely a turn at the corners of his mouth. It was such a sad replacement for the bright smile that he usually wore that she nearly cried. "Hi." She said "I'm so sorry." Immediately reverting to the servile demeanor she used when she was talking to nobles, back when she was a commoner, she added "Is there anything I can do for you?" She had to restrain herself from calling him "Your majesty". Old habits die hard.

"I'm just glad you are here. Please, tell me what's been going on. My servants don't think I can handle much conversation, so I've been kept in the dark." He paused here and broke into a coughing fit that lasted two or three minutes. With something that could have been a laugh, a wheeze or perhaps just another cough he added "I guess you can see why."

Sophia then launched into a narrative of the past week at royal prep, with James cracking jokes at every conceivable opportunity. They had to pause often to allow Zandar to cough and sometimes they had to call in the doctor to make him stop. In this way what would have been a short story lasted a good two hours. After noticing Zandar nodding off they quietly got up and made to leave. On the way out James asked a servant why the room smelled the way it did and the servant explained that there was incence being burned in hopes to help the prince heal. Satisfied they continued to leave, but Sophia, as clumsy as she was, tripped on the servant's foot and landed spread-eagled on the floor. The noise must have woken the sleeping Zandar and he, with an unnerving quickness, locked his eyes on Sophia's. He pleadingly asked of her "stay?"

Sophia looked to the doctor, who was coming in to re-light the burned-out incense. "I think you may have to." He said. "The prince seems better with the two of you here"

Sophia immediately agreed. She wanted nothing more than to help Zandar to heal as quickly as possible. It was quickly arranged that Sophia would stay in the room adjacent to the prince's. James had declined the offer, not wanting to stay away from his family, but instead opted to visit daily and bring with him a suitcase for his sister.

Zandar smiled softly and drifted into a contented slumber where he would remain for the rest of the day.


	3. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Sophia woke up the next morning to a symphony of noise. She could hear Zandar screaming, the doctor shouting and something that sounded a bit like a fire extinguisher. She bolted out of her room, still in a lacy white nightie.

Upon entering Zandar's room, she beheld an upsetting scene. Zandar was backed against a wall, brandishing a stick of burning incense at the doctor who was holding a little bottle of medicine. The prince's eyes were wild and his clothes were, like the doctor's, singed. Zandar was wailing at the top of his lungs "Help! Somebody help me! He's trying to hurt me! Please somebody stop him! Please, don't make me drink that! He's trying to poison me! " The poor boy sank to the floor, sobbing and coughing at the same time. He covered his face and curled up in a little ball, utterly terrified. The incense lay on the floor beside him, extinguished and forgotten. "Please…"

Only then did a nurse notice Sophia standing dumbfounded in the doorway. She walked over and quietly explained the situation, as the doctor tried to force his bottle of potion down the still-struggling prince's throat. "The brand of magic he is infected with, the disease if you prefer, seems to have an effect on its host's perception of reality. It toys with their heads and sometimes this happens. It isn't the first time his majesty has been affected by this particular symptom, but it is the first time he's gotten violent. He tried to burn the doctor and, when that failed, himself. I wouldn't advise going any nearer to him than this. It can sometimes take the doctor the whole day to calm him down."

Zandar looked so terrified, and so helpless that Sophia chose to entirely disregard the nurse's warning and ran into the heart of the kerfuffle. Just as she got there, the doctor finally succeeded in getting a few drops of his smelly, green potion down the prince's throat. As soon as he realized this, Zandar stopped screaming. Almost immediately after that, he started crying. Not the screaming, shrieking wail from moments before, but a soft, dejected whimper. Sophia, not knowing what else to do, sat down beside the prince and he laid his head on her shoulder. Naturally, Sophia had no idea what to make of this. She didn't know why his mood had changed so suddenly or why his head was now on her shoulder. The only thing she was sure about was that she wanted to help, somehow. Quietly she asked "Hey Zandar, he's gone (for the exasperated doctor had left the second the medicine had hit the boy's tongue, leaving the bottle behind) why are you still upset? He's not trying to hurt you anymore, I doubt he ever was."

Zandar lifted his head off of Sophia's shoulder and slid his hand into hers instead. He gripped it like a lifeline. He looked at her sadly, his eyes glassy marbles, red from crying and sunken in their sockets. "He won." He said his voice raw, "He got me. I'm as good as dead" He shivered, as with a chill that wasn't there, and retreated into a little ball, leaning against Sophia.

The princess then remembered that his grip on reality had been loosened by his sickness and that he had earlier talked about the doctor trying to poison him. (if you can call shrieking hysterically talking) "He wasn't trying to poison you," Sophia said gently, "Because you're sick, I think you might be delusional right now. He was trying to give you medicine to help fix that."

"Now that you mention it," Zandar said, the potion already lifting his fog, "He did say something about that. That's much nicer than dying." He yawned and his head lolled back against Sophia's shoulder. She was about to get the maid over to help him back into bed, when his eyes snapped open. "You know," he said, with a drunken point, "if I am poisoned, I don't think I could think of a better place to die." He yawned, flashed a sickly smile and let his head fall back onto Sophia's shoulder. As soon as his breathing slowed, a confused Sophia lifted the sleeping Zandar back into his bed. Sophia quietly left the room in favor of hers, thinking of the fiasco on her way there. What had he meant by "I don't think I could think of a better place to die"? Had he meant near her, or home in his castle or what? Regardless his hand in hers, despite being uncomfortably hot from fever, had felt nice. She smiled slightly as she opened the door to her room and entered. She barely remembered that she was still in her nightie.


	4. Chapters 5, 6 and 7

Chapter 5

Sophia pondered Zandar's outburst until Prince James came with her things. She had him leave the room as she changed into a purple and white checked dress that ended just below her knees. She called James back in, tying her hair into a cheery ponytail as she did so. He flopped down on the bed in a very un-princely fashion and Sophia proceeded to tell him about the morning's mayhem.

As her story came to a close she said "I still haven't a clue what he meant by "I couldn't think of a better place to die. It's kind of scary to think about."

Oddly, James smiled and said "Not really. It's kind of obvious what he meant. Can't you tell?"

Confused, Sophia said "No I can't tell. He may as well have been talking in code. What do you think it means?"

James looked unsure. "I really shouldn't tell you this, but I guess under the circumstances…"

"Ooh, tell me tell me!" interrupted a very excited Sophia, bouncing in her chair. " Please…" She said this last part using her very best Bambi eyes.

"Oh, alright," said James, shocked that he was being the mature one, "Zandar obviously meant dying near you. He's been sweet on you for ages. It takes a whole 10 minutes of extreme badgering to get him to stop talking about you and say something interesting." He then let fly and enormous belch. The fit of maturity had ended.

Sophia was thrilled and somehow not shocked at the revelation. If anything, it just made her want to see him get better more.

Chapter 6

The next day, Sophia woke while it was still dark. She estimated it was about four in the morning, but she was too excited about last night's revelation to sleep. Figuring that she may as well make the most of her morning, she changed into an orange romper (AN: a romper is a one-piece article of clothing - like a dress but with pants) and plaited her hair into pigtails. She read for about an hour (Snape kills Dumbledore! Oh my gosh!) when she heard a crash emanating from Zandar's room. She knew that there would be no servants awake at this hour. With a feeling of deja-vu, she bolted into the prince's quarters. Upon entering, she saw Zandar clinging to his nightstand, in a futile attempt to stay standing. He held a candle snuffer in his hand and was reaching it toward a stick of incense. Sophia, very confused, walked over to Zandar, who was obviously having a very hard time remaining upright.

Remembering the previous morning's kerfuffle, she gingerly asked "Zandar what exactly are you doing?" She feared that his answer would reveal another fit of delirium.

Putting Sophia's theory to a halt, Zandar said calmly "I was trying to put out the incense. The smell was making me dizzy."

It was true, even Sophia felt a little woozy in the heavily scented room. She took the snuffer away from Zandar, allowing him to hold on to the table with both hands, and extinguished the incense. She then proceeded to open the door to the balcony to allow the dizzying smoke out of the room. After going out on the balcony, spreading her arms and ironically shouting "I'm flying, Jack!" she went back over to Zandar and attempted to help him back into his bed without waking any servants.

Sophia, despite her years of flying derby training, was not exactly strong enough for the job. She had barely succeeded in getting the prince to the center of the room when he slipped from her grip. He landed soundly on his back. Sophia none-too-daintily jerked him up and she found herself face-to-face with his chocolaty, but bloodshot, eyes. He was staring intently at her face, almost as if in a trance, and Sophia wondered if he was entirely lucid. Before she could ask if he was alright, Zandar had wrapped his free arm around her and placed a whisper of a kiss on her lips. Sophia, startled, dropped him again. He managed to fall in such a way that he caught the bed, and with some help, he was once again securely under the covers.

Only after this was all said and done did Sophia truly register the shock of the minute's event. She blushed cherry-red and noticed Zandar was doing the same. They were both smiling in the same way as an adrenaline junkie, fresh off a rollercoaster. Zandar looked at Sophia sheepishly and said "Oh." and before he could say anything else, he passed out, exhausted.

Chapter 7

Sophia drifted through the halls of Tangu Palace, reliving the brief kiss again and again in her mind. It was her first kiss, and possibly the most awkward one in history. She was elated but at the same time horribly embarrassed. So naturally, when she was summoned back to the prince's room to inform him that she would have to leave to be back at school the next day, she was mortified.

As she walked into Zandar's room, they both blushed and averted their eyes. "I have to go home tonight so I can go to school in the morning." Sophia said to the floor, "I hope you feel better."

Sophia chanced a glance at the prince and he locked her gaze. "Do you think you could come again, soon? With you here, I almost forget I'm sick." He flashed Sophia a perfect smile, full of his previous sunshine, and, suddenly, she forgot all about her embarrassment.

"I'll be back tomorrow." she said with certainty, and she returned his sunny grin. Sophia crossed the room to hug the prince and, when the doctor's eyes were averted, she kissed him again. This time they were both more sure of themselves and the kiss, although barely a second and shared in a sickroom, was absolutely magical. Sophia left for the carriage with a smile on her face and the smell of incense in her hair.

Yes, it's finally over! So sorry it took so long, I lost my inspiration for a while. This was really fun, and I will be sure to write more stories!


End file.
